Writer Zak Penn explains why The Avengers is like no other superhero movie, while Roberto Orci and Simon Pegg explain where Star Trek is headed next. Plus new Hunger Games cast members, tons of Games of Thrones interviews, and more!

Spoilers from here on out!

Top image from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II.

The Avengers

Chris Hemsworth says his deal is for two Thor sequels and three Avengers films. He also confirms that Natalie Portman will appear in The Avengers as Jane Foster, so we now have at least three Thor actors - Hemsworth, Portman, and Stellan Skarsgaard - confirmed for the big team-up movie. [Daily Blam]

Writer Zak Penn explains what drew him to the project:

First of all, most of what was exciting about it, that I can tell you, was just the prospect that we would finally actually do a real cross-over movie, in which characters from multiple films were appearing at the same time, and it wasn't just a cameo. To me, that was something very exciting. Even if it had ended up being The Vision, Giant-Man and two other characters, it still would have been cool. The idea that there's these other movies being made, and they're all working towards this one final goal is what excited me. That, we did spend many years working on. All the people at Marvel and me would sit there and say, "Okay, so this is what's happening in Thor. This is what's happening in Captain America. This is what's happening here." So, that was probably the most exciting part of it.

I didn't have the same pre-conceptions about what The Avengers movie should be that I did about X-Men. The Avengers can go a lot of different directions. There is no one line-up. If you did an X-Men movie and it didn't have Professor Xavier in it, that would be a weird movie. There's a lot that I'm excited for, but I can't really talk about what's in it, so I can't tell you about what worked, what they listened to and what they didn't. But, theoretically, it should be amazing.

X-Men: First Class

Green Lantern

Angela Bassett discusses playing shadowy government operative Amanda Waller in the movie. She acknowledges she's nowhere near the 300-pound frame typically given to the character in the comics, and that she's not actually "heavily involved in the first movie", but she hopes to figure more prominently in the sequels. Here's how she described the character:

"That intellectual, that bright, that no-nonsense, that means business [personality]. [She's] getting it done and in the trenches nothing fazes her."

Super 8

Cowboys & Aliens

Star Trek 2

Writer Roberto Orci promises that you don't need to know anything about Star Trek to enjoy the sequel - even including the first movie to some extent:

"Well, even though it's a sequel we want to make sure that, again, just like with the first one you don't have to be a Trek fan to know what's happening. It doesn't rely on your previous knowledge of Trek or even the previous movie. It's still building on that movie. If you watch the first movie, you'll see where the characters have gone but every movie has to stand on its own. You can never just rely on the fact that it's a sequel."

He also again stressed that he's listening to fan comments about the first movie:

"Because they are one of the most long-standing, vocal fan bases around, from the very beginning when we signed on to those movies, we were interacting with them online and any time we ran into them. And literally the fans in a sense are consultants on these movies because we really do read what they have to say because I was a fan and I wouldn't want someone ruining my Star Trek without at least my getting to complain about it directly to management. The comment box is always open."

Rumors persist that the movie will be shot in 3D, although no decision has been made yet. When asked about it, costar Simon Pegg offered an eminently reasonable take on the issue:

"When something's made to be in 3D, if it somehow part of the experience, fair enough. I've done 3D movies. Tintin is amazing. That is going to be in 3D and that is going to be amazing. Sometimes, it's like if you see a movie that doesn't necessarily lend itself to 3D, like perhaps something live action or that isn't built for 3D, it's more like they're worried about it. 3D can sometimes be a vote of no-confidence."

Gravity

Producer David Heyman said that Alfonso Cuarón's long gestating stranded astronauts movie - which now stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney - will start filming in May, and he's very excited:

"The whole film has been pre-vised and figured out, it's fuckin' awesome. I mean, unlike anything you've seen in space. It's just great. He's a privilege to work with-he's a real visionary. We're using technology that's never seen before. This film will be more immersive, I believe, than anything you've seen before. You will really feel like you are in space. It will not be an objective view of space, it will be an immersive view of space. And you know as you say, with Children of Men, he loves these long shots. It's gonna be a really bold, bold film."

Heyman also confirmed that the film will mostly be shot in soundstages, and that they will post-process the movie to 3D. Here were his comments on the 3D issue:

Actually, we did some tests. Because this film is being made almost entirely digitally, a huge amount of it's being made digitally. 3D felt like a really organic-because so much of it's being done digitally, you can make the 3D in a post process much more easily than if you were shooting all live-action or sitting in a room.

The Hunger Games

30 Rock's Elizabeth Banks is reportedly close to signing on as Effie Trinket, who is a District 12 escort whose hair changes color frequently throughout the series, including a pink wig in the first book. [ShowBlitz]

Katniss's fellow combatants Thresh and Rue will reportedly be played by relative newcomers Dayo Okeniyi and Amandla Stenberg. [EW]

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II

The Passage

Cloverfield and Let Me In director Matt Reeves is reportedly taking over from Ridley Scott on this project, which involves scientifically created vampires that almost wipe out humanity. [Deadline]

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Lars and the Real Girl and Fright Night remake director Craig Gillepsie is now confirmed as the movie's third and hopefully last director. [ComingSoon.net]

Mortal Kombat

Warner Bros. is now reportedly considering a new movie after the success of Kevin Tancharoen's digital series Mortal Kombat: Legacy. [ShockTillYouDrop]

Doctor Who

Here are some new promo photos for the opening episode, "The Impossible Astronaut," as well as some America-themed cast photos. [Blogtor Who]

We may have the first piece of casting for the final episode, as Emma Campbell-Jones's CV says she is appearing in an episode directed by Jeremy Webb. Webb is only directing the pirate episode "The Curse of the Black Spot" and the final episode. Considering the former is already thought to have finished filming and Campbell-Jones's character is named Dr. Kent - which doesn't seem particularly piratey - it's a good bet that she's in the final episode. Campbell-Jones is a British TV veteran, having appeared on Casualty, Eastenders, Taggart, and more. [Doctor Who Spoilers]

Fringe

Game of Thrones

Here's a promo for the second episode, "Kingsroad."

Kit Harrington discusses his character Jon Snow:

"With him, it was kind of like a complex emotional turmoil that he's got going on, but you've got an instant sort of key into the character there – he doesn't know who his mother is; his stepmother hates him; he gets on with his brothers and sisters. He's loyal to the family, but he doesn't know how to go about dealing with this huge ambition that he has. "When I got it, I read the books and then I went, ‘Oh, OK… This is a really cool story line. He's got his own thing. He goes off and it's pretty epic, and he's a great character.' That's more what struck me when I got the part. Not really the size element of it, more the amount of stuff he's got riding on him."

Harrington's on-screen father Sean Bean also weighed in on Ned Stark's relationship with Jon Snow:

"It's a quite sad relationship, really. It's quite heartbreaking because Ned cannot show too much love and tenderness towards his son because his wife knows that he is Ned's bastard, he was born out of wedlock when Ned had a fling. It's very heartbreaking for him. The actor [Kit Harington] who plays it, he's wonderful. I don't know how he does it, just the right amounts of pathos and enthusiasm and youth and vigor. You can see the sadness in his eyes, he did a great job. We never can quite hug, or I can never really treat him as my other sons or other daughters and it's heartbreaking."

The amazing Peter Dinklage explains why he doesn't think the show is fantasy:

"I wouldn't be quick to use the word fantasy with this. I know that's the word that's been used, maybe a lot of people would disagree with me but what I see, I don't see it as a fantasy. At least from the stuff I've done that actually was truly fantasy, where water creatures are coming out of the ground and lions are talking. That, to me, is a bit more fantastical. This is more of a human drama. Human drama, that sounds a bit funny as well. It's hard to pinpoint what this show is, but that's the strength of it. There are things lurking in the shadows a bit, which lends a fantastical element to it, but it's more about humans, people, making each other's lives a bit more complex."

Supernatural

For an absolutely massive overview of everything we know about the upcoming episodes, check out this great roundup at TV Overmind.

Stargate Universe

Brad Wright confirmed that the franchise is finished...for now:

"We just recently found out that the SGU movie is not going to happen. It took too long. We just couldn't get it together in time, and the window has closed. It's actually sad for me, because after 17 years, I'm cleaning out my desk tomorrow morning. It's a franchise. Stargate is not over. Somebody smart from MGM is going to figure it out, and something will happen."

Smallville

Here's a preview and a synopsis for "Booster."

While Lois advises Clark on how to maintain a low profile, a new hero, Booster Gold, travels from the future to present-day Metropolis to become a media darling as a superhero. However, one of his rescues goes wrong, causing an alien scarab-weapon to attach itself to a teenage boy, growing into a battlesuit and transforming him into the Blue Beetle.